Como Park347 Acres of Urban Bliss

By Jennifer R. Edlund

Where is Como Park?

Hamline University

Como Park

384 Acres

Getting the Park Started• In 1872

– 5 commissioners were appointed to purchase between 500 and 650 acres of land

– Had to be within a convenient distance from down town St. Paul

• In 1873– City of St. Paul attained 300 acres of land on

the shores of Lake Como.• Land was originally used as farmland• Land was purchased with private

money for $100,000.• Some people were upset that such

valuable land was going to be ‘wasted’ as a park.

• In 1887– Land had changed hands many times– Finally, it became a landscape park for

“physical and moral sanitation”

Getting the Park Started

• Late 1880’s – Victoria Water Platters

• 1894 – Gates Ajar

• 1897– 3 deer were given as a gift.– These were the Como Zoo

until 1900.• Then Elk, Fox and Cebu

Cattle were added

• In 1915– 2 ‘buffalo’ were added

• gifts from Lt. Gov. Thomas Franklin

Early History

• 1904– First Japanese Garden

• Nov 7th, 1915 – Como Park Conservatory

Opened

• 1930’s – Trolley Car’s made it possible to

easily access the park at this time.

• That changed in the 1950 when GM purchased the Tracks and ripped them up.

– 1st major construction of the zoo.

– 1936 fire place erected in honor of poet Joyce Kilmer

Trees Trees Trees Trees

Trees by Alfred Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never seeA poem as lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prestAgainst the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,And lifts her leafy arms to pray;A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair;Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.Poems are made by fools like me,

But only God can make a tree.

More Recent History• 1956

– Archie Brand’s Seal Show Opened at Como Zoo

• 1957– First Director of the Zoo arrived, John A.

Fletcher– Had a limited budget of about $30,000 a year!

• 1974– Como Park Conservatory was placed on the

National Register of Historic Places• 1978

– City of Nagasaki, Japan (St. Paul’s Sister City) gave a garden design as a gift.

– Funds to build it were donated by the Ordway family.

– completed in 1979 and renovated again in 1991

More Recent History

• 1998– State Bonding passed $8,500,000

for Como Education Resource Center

• 2005– Education Resource Center

Opens– Victoria Water Platters return to

the Park• 2006

– New Tropical Encounters exhibit opened

• 2008– Early April Corpse flower

bloomed

Restoringan urban forest

Restoringlocal history

Restoringa child’s sense off wonder

Restoringconnections to nature

Location of Como Woodland

Como Woodland

Horton Ave.

Como Ave.

Project’s Goals

• Improve native species diversity in woodland

• Save historic features

• Increase storm water retention

• Improve student understanding of environmental science

• Improve stewardship behaviors

• Build 2,930 feet of trails • Put up 50 numbered posts

that correspond with online lesson plans

• Restore Joyce Kilmer Fireplace “Dutch Ovens” and adapted into a meeting place and story circle

What are they going to do?

“As an environmental education organization, the Center for Global Environmental Education (CGEE) is committed to fostering environmental literacy and stewardship. Critical to our mission are the outdoor classroom spaces that offer urban K-12 students opportunities to study, explore and understand the natural world that supports human culture. The Como Woodland restoration project would offer a unique opportunity for students to not only study the natural world, but participate in bringing a natural system back to health through the best practices of service learning and place-based education.”

Peggy KnappAssistant Professor, Center

for Global Environmental Education

For more information go to…

http://www.comowoodland.org

For more information about Como Park go to…www.comozooconservatory.org

Check out…

Japanese Lantern Lighting Festival (August 19th)

Skiing at Como Park (all winter)

Spring Flower Show (late March –Late April)

Birth of Coffee Photo Exhibit (March through Mid-May)

Party for the Planet (April 19th – April 22nd)

Sources

• Como Woodland; www.comowoodland.org; viewed April 12th, 2008.

• Como Park Zoo and Conservatory; http://www.comozooconservatory.org/; Viewed April 12th 2008.

• Ramsey County Historical Society: Como Park Neighborhood; http://www.rchs.com/neighborhoods/como_neighborhood.htm, copyright 2005.

• Minnesota Street Car Museum; http://www.msmuseum.org/; Viewed April 16th, 2008.